Romania - Where Democracy and Greed Collide
by Malcolm Plant
by Malcolm Plant - In this half light land where reality, morality and justice are but distorted mirror images of those which in the civilized world are regarded as the norms of social order, aggression and disrespect are universally displayed.
One such classic example of the erosion of both, in this topsy turvy land, was the recent experience of a Member of the Romanian Parliament.
Late last year, when Senator Cristiana-Irina Anghel inspected the Făcăi shelter, near to Craiova, she was shocked by the brutality and abuse against the dogs. Whilst attempting to photograph the conditions in order to raise the issue with her political counterparts, she was physically attacked by the veterinarian responsible for the shelter. His objective was to take her camera so that evidence of the atrocious conditions could not be seen by others and assuredly not within the political arena where such contentious issues could be addressed. Her driver and bodyguard protected her. The Senator registered the verbal exchange on her mobile phone (sound only), then she filed a complaint with the police. As is usual in Romania with animal related complaints, apathy and resistance prevail and now after 5 months NO response has yet been received.
In defense of the veterinarian's behavior, during a TV talk-show, the Mayor of Craiova, Lia Olguţa Vasilescu, insisted that Senator Anghel had acted hysterically and had provoked the incident in the shelter (it is a well-accredited fact that Senator Cristiana-Irina Anghel, as a Member of the highest authority in the land, is calmness personified - but also firm and intransigent).
From across the European landscape, others can only watch with bemusement and increasing concern, the progressive self-destruction of a Romanian society which demonstrates nil respect for elected representatives, subjugating order of law and democracy to self-interested desire to maintain a stray animal population, housed throughout Romania in atrocious conditions and with a singular and all-encompassing dynamic... to fill their own pockets.
About the Author
Malcolm Plant (UK), BSc, BA (Hons), MSc, Dipl. Psychology, is the Initiator of the 'Making the Link' Study and Intervention Project, a Fellow of the Institute for Human-Animal Connection at the University of Denver (USA), an Associate of Teeside University (UK), the Director at 'Lawyers for Animals', and the Legal Adviser at 'Occupy for Animals', as well as one of the editors of this book.
